Saturday, January 2, 2010

close but no cigar

here are some honourable mentions:

lily allen - it's not me it's you

no secret that i love lily, but i love her music as well, her first album was great, but a bit uneven, had a few goofy pop songs, i dunno. but this album showed a lot of maturing, and more of that attitude i love. it's just too fresh in my mind perhaps.



amanda palmer - who killed amanda plamer

again love. and the tone of that song aside, the album is really dark, and quite beautiful.



she has an amazing relationship with her fans and i've actually seen her perform live on webcam.
ain't technology grand.

the b-52's - funplex

this album is so much fun.

beastie boys - the mix-up

when i first heard about this, i honestly didn't know what to think, but damn.
instrumental beastie boys, it's awesome.

gogol bordello - super taranta!



oh no! oh my! - between the devil and sea

this is an ep, so it doesn't count, but it's a indie pop at it's best.

leftover crack - fuck world trade



that's been one of my favourite songs for ten years. i always loved chocking victim and early leftover crack, but this album is so much more.
they went beyond their ska influenced crust punk, and brought in violins and accordions, and just wrote some rocking songs. it's just mature for a modern punk band, and i love it.

arcade fire - funeral

loved this album when it first came out, absolutely loved it. overplayed it, got way burned out on it. neon bible is also really good, but never sticks out in my mind as more than a sequel to this album.

none more black - loud about loathing

this ep just fucking rocks. and this has to be the best punk song of the past decade.

mos def - the new danger



i don't know whatever happened to black jack johnson, but bring 'em back mos. you guys were fucking amazing.

tom waits - blood money

i bought this album when it came out, i didn't know tom waits, i just read a review that said it sounded like oscar the grouch singing old french love songs. how could i pass that up? so this was my first album by him, but after picking up his other stuff i realized i had heard a bit of him throughout the years, just never know it was him. and damn do i love me some mr. waits now.

the faint - danse macabre



dark sexy dance pop

explosions in the sky - those who tell the truth shall die, those who tell the truth shall live forever

this one was probably the hardest to cut, i think i went with sigur ros instead.
there's a brilliant video that synced up the quote from the thin red line in have you passed through this night with the movie, but the copyright attacks on youtube likely mean it's long gone. ah well, this is a beautiful album.

algebra one - conscious pilot

this one i left off, mainly because the only people that know algebra one are people that were in the richmond scene in the 90's and nerds like me. amazing fucking band though.
once again i have to post reverb, as it's art.

the anniversary - designing a nervous breakdown



beautiful jangly indie pop. kind of picks up where the promise ring left off after they cleaned up their sound. sadly the anniversary's second album was cleaned up as well, it's just not as charming or fun. that said i love this album, my only issue is that it starts really strong but doesn't go anywhere, the later songs don't stand out as much.

reggie and the full effect - under the tray

this is reggie at his best.

the decemberists - castaways and cutouts

not a perfect album, but close enough. by far the best album they've done, shame they put shiny on an ep, rather than putting it on here.

bright eyes - lifted...

this originally was number nineteen on the list, until i realized i had excluded she wants revenge. by far his most mature work, and some of the songs are even fun, way beyond whiny emo boy here. this is best, much more interesting than the odd stuff he got into later.




and there it is, albums of the past ten years that i think rock.
don't take it too seriously though, while i do own hundreds of albums, there are hundreds more i have yet to find.

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